


A Special Kind of Determination

by periwinklepalaces



Series: The Tentative Shenanigans of Remus and Virgil (and other events) [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: First Meetings, M/M, Mentions of mutilation, Pre-Episode: Accepting Anxiety, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, basically the typical remus things, death mention, everyone is sympathetic in this household, mentions of cannibalism, mentions of gore, none of them actually happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21783748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklepalaces/pseuds/periwinklepalaces
Summary: Virgil had a stubborn sort of determination. It was petty, it was careful, it was driven. It often carried a strong urge to keep kicking, keep fighting, keep living - to prove people wrong.And Remus found it intoxicating.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Series: The Tentative Shenanigans of Remus and Virgil (and other events) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1468943
Comments: 2
Kudos: 127





	A Special Kind of Determination

They met shortly after Remus moved to the subconscious - a few years after the split, seeing as Remus often caught himself measuring time based on that. Thomas couldn't have been older than 10.

He had been returning from his visit to the conscious mind palace, to Roman. Recently, the visits have been shorter, and Roman seemed to grow more distant. It saddened him.

The walk to and from was a long expanse of black that stretched on and on, illuminated from above by glowing memories travelling from the conscious to subconscious along glass pipes. They were always colour coded, but Remus had no idea what the colours meant. Logan was the one who organised them, of course, and apparently Deceit understood his colour system, seeing as he received and organised the memories on the other end. He wondered if they bonded over keeping Thomas' mind functioning. 

That day, most of the memories shone in lilac hues, contrasting Remus' green tunic. He paid it no mind as he ambled along, not particularly happy with how the visit had gone. Maybe _he_ wouldn't visit anymore, seeing as Roman never put in the effort to visit him. Roman was supposed to be the good one between them, right? That means _he_ should put the effort in, instead of him.

He almost missed the form lurking in the darkness, but caught a glint of something under a particularly bright memory. Curious and unbearably impulsive, his head instantly snapped to the direction in which he saw something, squinting as he moved forward. 

"I saw something, so there's no point in hiding." He announced loudly, trying to sound serious even as excitement bubbled in his gut. Was this a new side? There hadn't been a new side since King split, since _them_! Granted, Roman and Remus weren't technically new sides, but even so, it still stood that there hadn't been a new side in ages. And now Remus might be the first person they meet! It made him giddy. "If I have to start hitting things to find you, I might accidentally whack your head off!"

Now, Remus was aware that most sides didn't spontaneously appear in the place of another, hand in hand with his brother and screeching in unholy pitches that he wanted to _**go back, go back,**_ but he did know that most sides appeared suddenly. They weren't in existence one moment, and then they were, when they had enough power and purpose. It was a magical thing.

But the side that appeared in front of him was far from fully formed. A ghostly pale hand appeared in front of him, as did an opposite but equally pale foot and a bright purple eye matching the lilac lights above them, and though there was certainly a _silhouette_ , it was blurry, shadowy and chalky. Like someone had somehow managed to mould darkness, or like the being wasn't sure if it wanted to exist or not.

It would be jumping to a conclusion to say he fell in love, but Remus definitely found the form amazing. Inspiring, maybe? He instantly wanted to create a similar, shadowy creature with sharp dagger teeth to guard his lonely tower in the imagination. 

"Hello! Who're you?" Remus burst excitedly, buzzing with too much anticipation to wait for this new side to find his voice. _Could_ he speak? It didn't look like he had a mouth, but who knew what the shadows were hiding. What if he had no tongue? Cut clean out? What would tongue even taste like? Would it be chewy? Taste like chicken? Maybe pork-

"Anxiety." The new side, Anxiety, breathed in multiple voices, that all layered on top of each other and echoed around the area, again like he didn't know what he wanted to sound like. Remus found it beautiful, wondered absentmindedly if he could keep that breathy, conflicting voice in a jar to himself. "Or Virgil. I'm both, I think."

Anxiety. _Virgil_. Isn't that the guy who led Dante through the Underworld? What a wonderful name! 

"I'm Creativity! Or the Duke. Or Remus." He rattled happily, enjoying being able to introduce himself as such. The Core Three seemed to not count him as Creativity anymore, or at least, not proper Creativity. Roman was Creativity, and he was Dark Creativity. Bad Creativity. Inappropriate Creativity. But Anxiety didn't need to know that! Not with him introducing himself, not yet at least. 

His eyes glittered as he leaned forward into personal space in an attempt to inspect the strange appearance of Virgil further. Were those limbs solid, or would things phase through them, like a ghost? Could he get away with sticking something through his torso, or would it hurt? Virgil recoiled slightly at his advances, his one eye widening. "You have three names?" He mumbled in his pretty multivoice, followed by a quieter 'I thought two was weird' that Remus wasn't supposed to hear, but did anyway.

"Yeah, and you don't have a full body." He snarked back with a grin missing a front tooth. The new side flinched back, less in fear and more in irritation at being reminded of his state. Remus, often more observant than he was given credit for, decided that he'd focus on figuring out what tongue tasted like instead of whether Virgil's majority shadow body hosted things like guts and blood or not. Even better, he realised he had a good question, and his smile stretched a bit wider. Perhaps this was a bit too wide, a smidge too far for a normal human and just enough to be uncanny, but Remus couldn't be blamed for that. He couldn't see his own face! "So what are you doing out here?"

Virgil, to his credit, did pretty well in acting unfazed by his smile, even if he did shrink away a bit. Or perhaps that was due to him not having much of a body to express his fear with. "I live here?" He replied quietly, voices hoarse from the shock of usage. They had never been used before. 

Remus hummed, narrowing one eye as the other widened, smile dropping as he scrutinised the other. "I don't think you're allowed to live here. Things that get lost here disappear after a while. Explode-" He mimicked explosive sounds and made dramatic gestures with his hands. "Into millions of bloody pieces! Or something like that, maybe? Nobody has ever stayed here for a long enough time to find out."

Virgil's expression may have twisted at the description, had his face existed. But instead, his single pale hand just seemed to pick at the shadows. "Yeah, well, maybe I'll be the first." He huffed, fiddling with the shadows like one would a sleeve. "And I'll be fine."

Remus laughed, a sharp sound that had Virgil hunching his formless shoulders, though when he spoke, he sounded more serious. "You can't refuse the whim of the mindscape! If it wants you to die in a savage wolf attack, then I'm gonna find your mangled corpse! Or maybe just your torn out eye and chewed hand. I dunno how your non-body would look mangled." Certainly, Deceit couldn't fight the mindscape when it had decided to split in two, forcing the lying side into an isolation. Even Patton, the one who had unknowingly caused the rift, couldn't stop the consequences of his naive 6 year old actions, even as he cried and begged for the mindscape to stop. 

At least, that's what Remus had heard. He hadn't really existed as an individual then. 

Oh right, he had told himself not to talk about Virgil's form. Oops. At least the other side didn't seem to mind, instead twitching his fingers as he locked eyes with Remus. He hadn't noticed that Virgil hadn't looked him in the eye before this point, but it didn't matter, not when pure stubbornness shone in that iris.

"I will." He said, and though Remus could hear a tremble in one of his many, many voices, the tone carried grit. It was almost daring him to disagree. He watched those twitching fingers curl into a fist. "I refuse to die."

Remus wasn't new to seeing determination in action. His brother often seemed like he was powered with the force of the sun, always determined to slay the beast, or save the kingdom or make sure his creations were perfect. He also seemed determined to ignore Remus nowadays. Deceit was always determined to make sure Remus was taking care of himself, or keep up with the constantly lying facade even if it sounded comical at times. From what he could remember, Logan was always determined to be right, to be organised, to be logically flawless. Patton was always determined to keep things upbeat and light, to keep friendliness between the sides even though Remus was sure he was just overcompensating because he didn't want to lose anyone else to the subconscious. The point was, he was well versed with determination. It was an old friend.

But for some reason, seeing this new side's determination felt different. It felt new. That earnest persistence, that primal, stubborn urge to _survive_ -

Remus found it _adorable_. 

A manic smile blossomed on his face as his impulsive, frantic mind landed on the perfect solution. He cocked his head to the side, humming. "If you're that eager to live, you wanna come back with me? We can live together! Much safer than staying here, plus I'm sure Deceit would love to smother you in parental affection like the boa constrictor he is!"

Virgil blinked, as if surprised that Remus hadn't argued back. His form seemed to relax as best as it could, a flicker of confusion igniting in his eye and chasing away that beautiful determination. "What?" 

Remus snickered, offering a hand while wiggling his fingers, as if that would coax him into taking it. "You said you wanted to live! I thought you'd be more enthusiastic about safety."

Realisation seemed to catch up to the new side, as he blinked slowly before eyeing his outstretched hand hesitantly. "Really?"

Remus leaned closer, smiling crookedly as he decided an attempt at reassurance. "Look doubtling, if I wanted you dead, I would've killed you myself. I wasn't kidding when I said I could whack your head off earlier!" He used his free hand to summon his morning star, swinging it over his shoulder. 

Maybe it wasn't the best way to reassure someone, as Virgil eyed the newly revealed weapon warily. Even so, after a beat of uncertainty, he took his hand and mumbled in his pretty multivoice. 

"Okay."

**Author's Note:**

> yes, this entire fic is based on the line "I love how hard you try, it's so cute"
> 
> I don't have a concrete number of chapters, though I do have ideas for scenarios, and I doubt the chapter count will exceed six, but we'll,,see,,,


End file.
